The present invention relates to mounting of lights such as Christmas lights to structures, and particularly to lap type siding.
It is well known to provide various forms of clips to mount strings of lights to the exterior of building structures. Most of such clip arrangements are designed for attachment to eave troughs, or they include provisions to facilitate nailing to facia boards or the like. Eave trough clips are not suitable for mounting to siding, especially to lap type aluminum, vinyl or steel siding, and the nail type clips are not preferred because of marks and indentations left by the nails. Many who decorate with light strands have therefor resigned themselves to use only eaves and perimeter structure for mounting lights. Any additional lighting is typically supported on separate forms, such as plywood sheets that are suspended, self supporting, or that can be leaned against siding without damaging the siding surface.
Placement of decorative lights is also no longer just a Christmas tradition. Many homeowners use strands of decorative lights to commemorate other holidays, or as an all season decoration.
A need has been realized for a form of light mounting clip structure that can be used on siding, to increase the decorative possibilities, and areas where decorative lights may be used.
One attempted solution to the above problems has been the use of xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d shaped light mounting brackets in which one leg of the xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d configuration fits under a siding member and the remaining leg projects outward to mount a light. Such brackets may be somewhat functional, but will easily become separated from the siding member unless nailed or otherwise secured. One example of such arrangements is disclosed in U.S. Design Patent Des. 369,957 granted on May 21, 1996 to Fred T. Blanton.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a clip arrangement that can be used on lap type siding without damaging the siding or leaving nail marks.
It is a further objective to provide such a clip that will mount to a variety of different siding materials.
A still further objective is to provide such a clip that is simple in construction and easy to install.
The above and yet further objectives and advantages may become apparent from the following description which, taken with the drawings, describe the presently preferred mode for carrying out the present invention.